“That’s your opinion,” he said. “I thought Anthony (Tolliver) was doing the things defensively that we need. It was nothing against Kevin. I thought A.T. was doing a good job. I thought that he was moving his feet well. He challenged shots. He blocked shots.

“Rather than turning it into a derogatory thing with Kevin, it’s a complimentary thing toward A.T.”

Love didn’t take it that way. He was gone before reporters were allowed in the locker room.

Tolliver was blocking shots, he had four of them, and he was providing better weakside defensive help (as pointed out at A Wolves Fan Among Wolves). Yes, when Love sat the Wolves went on a little run to tie the game. But that run faltered and you could feel the need for scoring and better rebounding. Love sat.

Nobody on Minnesota was playing good defense against a Kings team without Tyreke Evans (serving a suspension) — they scored 114.7 points per 100 possessions for the game, which over the course of last season would have been second best in the league. The Kings scored at will and it was a team-wide issue.

Going with the hot hand is a good practice for a coach. Rambis mentor Phil Jackson did it opening night — Derek Fisher sat at the end of the game so that a hot Steve Blake could stay in. And you get a game winner. But Blake and Fisher are role players, you don’t see Jackson sitting Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

Kevin Love is the Timberwolves best player. Bar none. His defense isn’t great but neither is Darko’s or Beasley’s, and they were out there. Love is the best scorer and rebounder they have. You didn’t see Jerry Sloan benching Carlos Boozer or George Karl benching Carmelo Anthony because of their defense. Love needs to be on the court at the end of games. He should be a leader and go-to guy on this team, but it’s hard to become that when the coach cuts you off at the knees.

That’s a fine sentiment. Saying it publicly is another matter. Not even Harden did that a couple years ago. He was recorded during a pregame team huddle.

There’s a fine line between self-fulfilling confidence and providing bulletin-board material to the opponent. There’s already some animosity between the teams stemming from the Stephen Curry-Harden MVP race in 2015, and it has bubbled since. No matter how harmless Capela’s remark might have been intended to be, it’ll be met contentiously in the Bay Area.

Oklahoma City traded for Victor Oladipo out of Orlando to be their third scorer, behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It didn’t exactly work out that way, Durant bolted town and when Westbrook went off Oladipo was looking for a place to fit in.

That place turned out to be the Pacers.

Oladipo has been playing like an All-Star this season with Indiana, and last week he was key in snapping Cleveland’s 13 game win streak, then turned around and dropped 47 points on Denver. For the week he averaged 35.7 points a game, shot 45.7 percent from three, plus grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game.